An important mechanism sustaining the atmospheric &amp;quot;water tower&amp;quot; over the Tibetan Plateau

Xu, Xiangde; Zhao, Tianliang; Lu, Chungu; Guo, Y.; Chen, B.; Liu, R.; Li, Y.; Shi, Xiaohui

doi:10.5194/acp-14-11287-2014

Cited by 109 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(40 reference statements)

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“…The peaks of heavy precipitation indices (R20, R95, and R5D) after EPW and CPW significantly increase while EPC has a relatively small impact on the peaks of heavy precipitation indices in a year after EPC. The seasonal variability of precipitation is controlled by two major moisture source: the southern moisture which is transported by the mid-latitude westerly and the southern moisture which is related to the Indian summer monsoon [47,48]. Cao et al [45] suggested that the strengthening of westerly and southwesterly winds in the decaying year of CPW will bring more moisture to China, compared to a developing CPW.…”

Section: Annual Trend Of the Extreme Precipitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Multi-Scale Temporal Variability of Extreme Precipitation in the Source Region of the Yellow River

Jiang

Yuan

et al. 2019

Water

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Changes in extreme precipitation are critical to assess the potential impacts of climate change on human and natural systems. This paper provides a comprehensive investigation on the multi-scale temporal variability of extreme precipitation in the Source Region of the Yellow River (SRYR). The statistical analysis explores multi-scale extreme precipitation variability ranging from short to long term, including seasonal, annual, and inter-annual variations at different locations in the SRYR. The results suggest that seasonal patterns of extreme precipitation do not always follow the seasonal pattern of total precipitation. Heavy precipitation mostly happens during the period from May and October with July as the peak, while dry conditions are mostly seen in winter seasons. However, there are no significant annual trends for most indices at most locations. The extreme heavy precipitation presents an increasing trend at high elevation and decreasing trend at low elevation. The extreme dry condition presents more consistently decreasing trends at nearly all locations. Long-term analyses indicate that most of the selected indices except average daily intensity display multi-year bands ranging from 2 to 8 years which is probably due to the effects of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). A further evaluation on how the ENSO events would impact extreme precipitation shows that eastern Pacific warming (EPW) and central Pacific warming (CPW) would bring less extreme heavy precipitation compared to normal years. These results can provide a beneficial reference to understand the temporal variability of extreme precipitation in the SRYR.

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Section: Annual Trend Of the Extreme Precipitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Multi-Scale Temporal Variability of Extreme Precipitation in the Source Region of the Yellow River

Jiang

Yuan

et al. 2019

Water

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“…The Tibetan Plateau plays a critical role in the troposphereto-stratosphere transport of water vapor and air pollutants throughout the ASM (Zhou et al, 1995;Fu et al, 2006;Lelieveld et al, 2007;Yang et al, 2014;Yu et al, 2017). Zhou et al (1995) proposed that the Tibetan Plateau might be an important pathway for the transport of pollutants in eastern Asia from the lower troposphere to the stratosphere during summertime while exploring the causes of ozone valley over the Tibetan Plateau.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further analysis of the CALIPSO and MISR satellite data indicated that "aerosols appear to be more easily transported to the main body of the Tibetan Plateau across the northern edge rather than the southern edge" and "dust is found to be the most prominent aerosol type on the Tibetan Plateau" (Xu et al, 2015). A 3 d case study using the WRF mesoscale model coupled with a dust module showed that deep convection in early summer over the Tibetan Plateau can inject dust aerosols into the stratosphere (Yang et al, 2014). The contribution of these dust plumes to the total aerosols in the UTLS over the Tibetan Plateau and associated transport and transformation processes needs to be thoroughly investigated.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the aerosol chemical composition of the tropopause over the Tibetan Plateau during the Asian summer monsoon

Brühl

et al. 2019

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Enhanced aerosol abundance in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) associated with the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) is referred to as the Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL). The chemical composition, microphysical properties, and climate effects of aerosols in the ATAL have been the subject of discussion over the past decade. In this work, we use the ECHAM/MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry (EMAC) general circulation model at a relatively fine grid resolution (about 1.1 × 1.1 • ) to numerically simulate the emissions, chemistry, and transport of aerosols and their precursors in the UTLS within the ASM anticyclone during the years 2010-2012. We find a pronounced maximum of aerosol extinction in the UTLS over the Tibetan Plateau, which to a large extent is caused by mineral dust emitted from the northern Tibetan Plateau and slope areas, lofted to an altitude of at least 10 km, and accumulating within the anticyclonic circulation. We also find that the emissions and convection of ammonia in the central main body of the Tibetan Plateau make a great contribution to the enhancement of gas-phase NH 3 in the UTLS over the Tibetan Plateau and ASM anticyclone region. Our simulations show that mineral dust, water-soluble compounds, such as nitrate and sulfate, and associated liquid water dominate aerosol extinction in the UTLS within the ASM anticyclone. Due to shielding of high background sulfate concentrations outside the anticyclone from volcanoes, a relative minimum of aerosol extinction within the anticyclone in the lower stratosphere is simulated, being most pronounced in 2011, when the Nabro eruption occurred. In contrast to mineral dust and nitrate concentrations, sulfate increases with increasing altitude due to the larger volcano effects in the lower stratosphere compared to the upper troposphere. Our study indicates that the UTLS over the Tibetan Plateau can act as a well-defined conduit for natural and anthropogenic gases and aerosols into the stratosphere.

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“…Previous studies have investigated the pathways of BC transport to the TP (Cao et al, 2011) and some of them suggested that South Asia and East Asia are two main source regions of atmospheric BC in the TP (Lu et al, 2012). The Asian summer monsoon system was identified as an important influencing factor for BC transport from South Asia to the TP (Chen et al, 2013;Han et al, 2014;Xu et al, 2014;Zhang et al, 2015). In summer, BC from northern India can be transported to the middle and upper troposphere and then crossing the Himalayas to the TP via southwesterly winds (Yang et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of atmospheric transport and biomass burning on the interannual variation in black carbon aerosols over the Tibetan Plateau

Han¹,

Wu²,

Liu³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Atmospheric black carbon (BC) in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) can largely impact regional and global climate. Still, studies on the interannual variation in atmospheric BC over the TP and associated variation in BC sources and controlling factors are rather limited. In this study, we characterize the variations in atmospheric BC over the TP surface layer through analysis of 20-year (1995–2014) simulations from a global chemical transport model, GEOS-Chem. The results show that, of all areas in the TP, surface BC concentrations are highest over the eastern and southern TP, where surface BC are susceptible respectively to BC transport from East Asia and South Asia. Combining the GEOS-Chem simulations and trajectories from the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model, we assess the contributions of different source regions to surface BC in the TP. On the 20-year average, over 90 % surface BC in the TP comes from South Asia (47 %) and East Asia (46 %). Regarding seasonal variation in foreign influences, South Asia and East Asia are dominant source regions in winter and summer, respectively, in terms of both magnitude and affected areas in the TP. In spring and autumn, the influences from the two source regions are somewhat comparable. Interannually, surface BC over the TP is largely modulated by atmospheric transport of BC from foreign regions year-round and by biomass burning in South Asia, mostly in spring. We find that the extremely strong biomass burning in South Asia in the spring of 1999 greatly enhanced surface BC concentrations in the TP (31 % relative to the climatology). We find that the strength of the Asian monsoon correlates significantly with the interannual variation in the amount of BC transported to the TP from foreign regions. In summer, strong East Asian summer monsoon and South Asian summer monsoon tend to, respectively, increase BC transport from central China and northeast South Asia to the TP. In winter, BC transport from central China is enhanced in years with strong East Asia winter monsoon or Siberian High. A strong Siberian High can also increase BC transport from northern South Asia to the TP. This study underscores the impacts of atmospheric transport and biomass burning on the interannual variation in surface BC over the TP. It reveals a close connection between the atmospheric transport of BC from foreign regions to the TP and the Asian monsoon.

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An important mechanism sustaining the atmospheric "water tower" over the Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 109 publications

References 27 publications

The Multi-Scale Temporal Variability of Extreme Precipitation in the Source Region of the Yellow River

The Multi-Scale Temporal Variability of Extreme Precipitation in the Source Region of the Yellow River

Modeling the aerosol chemical composition of the tropopause over the Tibetan Plateau during the Asian summer monsoon

Impacts of atmospheric transport and biomass burning on the interannual variation in black carbon aerosols over the Tibetan Plateau

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